Monday, June 1, 2015

Applause! Applause! Review of A Brief History Of Beer at Under St. Mark's Theater by Dr. Thomas Robert Stevens

This review of A Brief History Of Beer at Under St. Mark's Theater was written by Dr. Thomas Robert Stevens and published in Volume X, Issue 5 (2015) of the online edition of Applause! Applause!A Brief History Of BeerHosted by Trish Parry & William GlennDirected by Jeffrey MayhewUnder St. Mark's Theater (94 St. Mark's Place, NYC)Reviewed 5/31/15 at 6:30 p.m. Hopheads Unite aboard the Quantum Pint Machine Zythos to learn about the history of beer and to discover which Nefarious One has hijacked the time line to limit the number of choices beer drinkers have available. You should have a beer or two at hand while aboard the Star Trek-inspired time-travelling ship just in case the Red Alert goes off indicating the ship is low on fuel. You may have guessed the solution: group drink starting with the Six Point beer you were given free along with the price of admission and continuing with the backup beers you purchased. After all, you wouldn't want to crash! Plus, as your hosts Trish Parry and William Glenn, tell you, "Beer tastes good. It feels like love washing through your insides." The Intertemporal Beer Caretakers Consortium (IBCC) will take you on a journey through time, with the help of video, sound effects, and props, and along the way will tell you a bit about how beer was discovered, how it is made, and who throughout history have tried to limit its production and distribution. As the Zythos approaches each new time period, Health & Safety regulations require all passengers to shout & scream like maniacs and Civil War Beer Pong is also a requirement just for fun (by the way, the loser at the Beer Pong competition will always be the Confederates because this drinkeractive show is currently running in Yankee territory).Despite this only being an hour show, you will visit the fertile crescent in Iraq 10,000 years ago, Sumeria, the Middle Ages, a stop at a Monastery involving a dirty nun and a thirsty priest I could have done without, the Prohibition era, pre-WWII, the 1970s and ultimately, our own modern era. The history timeline could use some tweaking if you are still sober enough to care. In the end, we learn there was no Nefarious One. Only a complacent public that let a few beer companies dominate the market. Now the people have taken their power back by creating thousands of craft beer breweries through the country. We are reminded that beer is the "Golden Nectar of the Gods" and that according to recent studies, simply tasting beer, with no effect from the alcohol, can trigger the release of dopamine in the brain. It's not all good news though because even though beer can put a guy in a frisky mood, the effect sometimes turns Mr. Happy into Mr. Sad. This show is great fun! It is a time-travelling booze cruise in a black box theater that has been a hit at the Edinburgh, Adelaide and at many other Fringe Festivals throughout the world over the past couple of years. This particular show at Under St. Mark's Theater is sponsored by Brooklyn's own Six Point Brewery http://sixpoint.com/ and will play the last Sunday of each month at 6:30 p.m. through August, 2015. If you are looking for an entertaining communal drinking opportunity on a Sunday night, I highly recommend you check out this show. Tickets cost $18.00 and with it, you get a free beer. Buy your tickets at: https://www.vendini.com/ticket-software.html?e=e37cff6b23b7fd1ab7923dd4c1375199&t=tix and when you leave this unique show, I guarantee you will be singing, "this beer is my beer, this beer is your beer...this beer was made for you and me." After the show, you can tweet your photos and comments to #BHOBeer or post them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/WishExperience